Alzheimer’s risk may be reduced with more exercise, study finds

Individuals with higher levels of daily physical activity may have a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s, suggests the results of a recent study published in the April 24, 2012 issue of Neurology. The study, which was constructed to establish a link between daily exercise and reduced Alzheimer’s risk, outfitted 716 cognitively aware participants with an average age of 82 with a wrist actimeter to measure movement.

At the end of four years, results found that more than twice as many participants in the group with the lowest 10 percent of physical activity developed clinical Alzheimer’s disease, that is, with the least amount of physical activity. This observation remained intact even after applying control measures for sex, age, education, depression and other factors.